The Proverbial Thin Line
by Sini
Summary: Max and White find themselves in trouble. What is going through their minds when there is not much that they can do to help themselves... MW


**Hey guys! Wrote this little thing a long ago****... like two or three years back. Definitely not the most original piece but I think it's not completely rotten, hence I am posting it. Pretty standard MW, I suppose. Definitely AU and probably to a lot of people OOC. I know the premise is somewhat farfetched but quite frankly, I don't really care.**

**It's weird to find something you've written a long ago and don't even really remember writing it. But, oh well!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Dark Angel, never have and never will. Meh…**

* * *

**The Proverbial Thin Line**

"I hate this. And I_ really_ hate you!" Max spat out and continued to glare at White who was situated on the opposite side of the room.

"Well, I'm not too fond of this either and I completely despise you," he retorted, letting his head collide with the wall behind him with a thud. "I didn't ask for this."

Clenching his jaw, he groaned.

"_What __did I do to deserve this?"_ he thought. _'And where the hell is my gun?'_

Max on the other hand was clenching her fists and grinding her teeth, all the while wishing she was anywhere but here. "Dumbass," she muttered.

"Excuse me, but it was you who got us in here!" White barked, taking swift strides across the room and came to stand right in front of Max's nose.

Taking hold of the front of his shirt, Max leaned in closer. "No, had you not chased me all over the place, I'd be at home making myself comfortable on my couch and you'd be in your beloved hell-hole 30 feet below the ground!"

"I do not live in a cave underground," White said in a stone cold manner and roughly pushed her away.

"Who said anything about a cave?!" Max yelled straight at his face. "Although it does sound awfully fitting…"

"Argh! I hate this…" she said, walking to the other side of the room.

Once again White had tracked Max down. After an hour of playing cat and mouse they had found themselves in an abandoned part of… Sector 6, was it? Not that it was hard to find deserted places these days. But what on Earth were the chances of hem crashing through the floor or some godforsaken building and into the depths of its isolated cellar. A cellar, you wonder. It should be no problem for two superior beings. That's where you are wrong. The ceiling was too high for either of them to reach the hole in it. The place was downright creepy; the fairly large room they were in was naturally windowless, it had been cleared up and only an old desk with the accompanying chair remained. Scattered on the floor were bits and pieces of the ceiling and floor that had come down and a solid concrete wall took up the place of where there had once been a door. Who knew what had gone down in this basement…

"You sure there's no reception?" Max enquired, squinting suspiciously. White was currently the only one with a cell phone. Hers had gotten lost between the punches that they had been throwing in the very house they were currently at.

"No, do you honestly think I wouldn't call my men if I had the opportunity?" he asked, apparently rhetorically.

Max sighed. How were they going to get out of here? Scratch that. How was she going to get out of here? She didn't particularly care what happened to the Familiar.

Descending to the floor, she stretched her arm. They had had quite a fight; blows had been exchanged for some time before they had fallen down. Neither was seriously injured but there were some wounds to be nurtured.

White ran a hand through his hair and glanced at his watch – they had been stuck in the cellar for two hours. He paced the floor for a while but stopped when there was crackling sound coming from somewhere. Could someone have found them? But who? No one knew where they had disappeared.

In a matter or seconds more of the ceiling collapsed and Max sprung to the other side to avoid getting hit. The building was far from new and it felt like any minor movement above might make it come crashing down on them.

"How reassuring…" White muttered as he looked at the massive pile of debris in on the floor. The dust would take forever to fall onto the ground. "As if it isn't enough that I'm stuck here with you 452."

The remark earned him a heavy punch in the arm. He scowled and watched Max resume her sitting position. They both knew starting another fistfight wasn't going to get them anywhere so they had resorted into glaring and verbally insulting each other. What else did they have between them? A lifetime worth of disgust?

At least the basement wasn't too cold.

* * *

After six more hours both the Transgenic and the Familiar were utterly bored and tired of their existence. Max was still sitting in the exact same place and had only once stood up to stretch her legs. White had laid down on his back and was intently staring at the gaping hole above him. 

"You know I'm going to find Ray sooner or later."

"I'm betting my money on later or rather never," Max grunted.

"Why can't you let me have my son? What good is he to _you _452?" White asked raising his voice and turned his head to face Max.

"I'm not giving you the chance of getting him involved in your cult. He deserves better," she said coldly.

"What makes you think it's not good enough? He seemed to be doing well until you kidnapped him," White growled. "At least he'd be safe."

"Ha! Like I'm buying that… He's a lot safer where he is than he'd ever be in that cult of yours."

"Then where is he?"

* * *

"He asks about you a lot," Max said after another hour had passed. 

White perked up and wondered what had made her – it, say that. He had been quite certain that 452 saw his son on a regular basis. There wasn't much evidence of that but some things he just knew.

"He's doing well, he has friends and he's got a real good head for math," Max continued. "And I'm pretty sure he could kick the crap out of any bully who'd try to mess with him or his friends for that matter."

Max wasn't sure why she was telling White these things. Deep down she knew; she wanted to believe that there was good inside that man. It was incredibly difficult, seeing as he was her number one enemy. But no one completely rotten to the core could have a kid as sweet as Ray was.

White smiled ever so slightly at the mental image. God, how he missed Ray! He would even screw the Conclave to have him back and have a life with him. Contrary to popular belief, he did have a heart – most of which was owned by his son.

The anger began to rise inside him. The transgenic pain-in-the-ass bitch had taken him away…

In a few seconds he had her pinned up against the wall, demanding the location of Ray.

Max felt the pressure of his fingers and nails biting into her skin. She kicked him off and prepared for a rematch.

Instead, he punched the wall with full force, never crying out in pain. Max didn't even see him flinch.

The man was seriously troubled, she thought.

* * *

Another hour of complete silence. The air outside was getting frigid and the day was turning into night. They both shivered slightly, trying to ignore the lingering coldness. Both of them could endure a lot of things but cold was cold and the temperature was declining quickly. 

After half an hour White shook his head in disbelief, stretched his arm out to Max, who wasn't sitting too far from him because of the limited space, and drew her to his side. Neither one said a word.

OK, so this wasn't too bad, they thought. Sure they were leaning against each other and they were almost mortal enemies but there were times when differences had to be aside in order to survive.

The truth was that they were both very much alone in the world; neither one had no one to go home to, well White used to until he killed her, they were both on a mission and no matter how much they denied it, they were both freaks - at least to the Ordinaries.

"I'm sorry for taking Ray, but I still believe this is best for him. Nothing good can come out of…" she trailed off, knowing that White got the message.

"And I'm sorry for killing your…" Suddenly he went quiet. Friends? Siblings? "But as you probably know, I have my reasons."

So they didn't like the fact that they couldn't stop each other, but they sure as hell were going to try. But for now, until they got out of this dump, they might just get along.

* * *

It was dark when White opened his eyes. His left side was freezing but not the right one. There was hair on his face and it didn't take long for him to deduct to whom it belonged. Max – 452 – was obviously still asleep. Strangely enough he didn't find her sleeping next to him that repulsive. What worried him even more was that it was kind of… nice. He grimaced; what was happening to him? And had he apologized for killing freaks? The world must be about to end.

Yet he couldn't shake the feeling of contentment. Even though the circumstances were rather extreme, they weren't going to die. At least he hoped they weren't going to die.

He had been awake for a few minutes when there was another crash. He shielded himself and Max and once the clanging stopped, tried to look through the newly risen dust to see what had happened. Max had woken up, not to his amazement, and they both stood up. There was no mention of their sleeping arrangements. That had been settled the second they had sat side to side.

There was no ceiling left but the heaps of debris offered them a chance of freedom. They shared a look and Max climbed upward until she was able to jump all the way up.

* * *

White saw his gun the minute he got up as well. He took it in his hand and wiped off some of the dirt. 

"Aren't you going to try and shoot me now?" Max asked.

"I'm not. Not tonight," he said and holstered the weapon.

They stood quietly for a while, holding each other's eyes. Then Max stepped forward, coming to stand inches away from White.

"Thank you," she said, "for saying you're even a little bit sorry."

White nodded. "I meant it, Max. I may not like your… friends… but I know what it feels like to loose people that mean something to you."

It was Max's turn to nod. "Who knows, maybe someday there'll be closure without half of us having to die…" she mused and they smiled just a little at the absurdity of her scenario.

Suddenly White took hold of her face and brought her lips to meet his. To his surprise Max didn't protest. Then again, these were unusual circumstances. During the brief moment the kiss lasted, they thought they understood the other one a little better. When it was over, they turned and went separate directions.

They wondered if things would go back to the way they were come morning. Something told them it wouldn't be exactly the same. Sure, White would continue his quest of finding his son and hunt transgenics. Max would continue to help them. But maybe they wouldn't be trying to kill each other as eagerly as before. Just maybe. Had they momentarily crossed the proverbial line? Deep down, they knew exactly what the answer was.

* * *

Make what you want of this. Flame it, fave it, ignore it or review. I'm cool with everything. 


End file.
